Almost Eden

My blog experienced a fatal shutdown last week, so I’m going to give you a quick update on the little things you missed... The closing on our house, closets arrived, shopping with Shoshana in Geula, the First International Jewish Blogger's Convention, Customs Paperwork, Backpack Shopping,and finally Shabbat! more »

Breakfast consisted of Nature Valley granola bars and water since the complimentary "continental" breakfast wasn’t kosher and our room didn’t have a fridge. Michael went down to the lobby to obtain a luggage cart and assistance, but was told that the guy wasn’t on duty yet. So he dragged all 9 pieces + our carry-on’s down a little at a time and we closed up the room. The next challenge was getting it all back out to the curb (UP the ramp). Fortunately a larger van arrived to take us (and the other hotel guests) to the airport. The driver was a very strong Russian young man who lifted our heavy boxes as though they contained feathers – we were thankful and tipped him well. I felt bad for the other passengers because we just managed to squeeze everything in and they were cramped, but at least it was a short ride (less than 10 minutes). You have to see our Luggage to appreciate this adventure! more »

July 8, 2008 After a wonderfully relaxing weekend (well it would have been if Mom hadn’t been hospitalized for losing sight in her left eye) at Vincent & Valerie’s house in Gloversville, we drove down to Queens (5 hours/ 210 miles) where we checked… more »

As I mentioned in my last post, Mom lost vision in her left eye a few hours before Shabbat ended. The emergency room “care” she received (in my opinion) was awful. One doctor after another contradicted each other and a few even lied to her. Having worke… more »

July 4th WeekendFriday: We left University Heights around 7 AM and drove to Gloversville, NY (8.5 hours/439 miles). We stopped at Yisrael's favorite NYS Thruway rest stop - Angola... he likes it because we have to cross a bridge over the highway.Along the way we picked up some food to complete our Shabbat meal and dragged a few pieces of luggage into Vincent and Valerie’s house. Since they were camping, we spent a quiet Shabbat alone enjoying our fish and Peter Baum’s chicken wings.Saturday: We had a quiet morning with the exception of Yisrael constantly asking when Grandma would arrive... more »

Thursday, July 3rd - Today we: Slaved away doing the final cleaning out of the house. Packed and inventoried the checked luggage. Sold our 2 Honda Elements back to Motorcars Honda (a great place to buy and service vehicles – excellent cust… more »

Wednesday, July 2nd - We continued cleaning out the house, selling things, and packing/inventorying for our trip to NY and on to Israel. Peter and Paula Baum hosted a really nice cook-out for us, we enjoyed the delicious homemade food and warm compa… more »

Tuesday, July 1st Morning: We went to a nice park in Huntsville with the kids and then back to Sam & Kyle's apartment to go swimming. Had a nice picnic lunch and discussed the concept of kosher foods and maintaining a kosher kitchen. Afternoo… more »

Monday, June 30th Morning: drove to Nashville, TN (6 hours/334 miles) to visit Jessica, Tom and all the dogs and cats. More photos are here. Evening: drove to Madison, Al (2 hours/134 miles) to visit Samantha & Kyle and Natalee, Bobby and… more »

Sunday, June 29th We left University Heights just before midnight and drove (10 hours/602 miles) in the rain to Cedar Hill, Missouri. We enjoyed a nice cookout with Mom, Dad, Kirk, Mimi, Sherri, Tammi & Kip, Tyler, Jessie and Katie - they had… more »